Asher Brauner Movies

An alcoholic, world-weary has-been Jewish reporter heads out for revenge against the white-supremacists who murdered his father in this grim political thriller. As the detective assigned to the case isn't very effective, the reporter begins his own investigation with the help of his lover, the enigmatic radio correspondent Rita. Their digging unearths evidence that the killing was really part of a conspiracy to kill another Jewish fellow who is running for the Senate on an anti-military platform. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

American Eagle deals with three Vietnam survivors, particularly one who carries a grudge against his war buddies after they stop him from a wanton killing of a Vietnamese civilian. The film delves into the post-Vietnam decades that finds two of the vets unable to leave the violent wartime behind them as they join mercenary efforts around the globe. Eventually one tries to change his ways but runs into a (U.S.) government that won't let him stop the killing. ~ All Movie Guide

Sammy Davis Jr. guest stars as Benny Shaffer, veteran trainer of up-and-coming boxer Sonny Ruiz (Scott Colomby). When Ruiz's manager and doctor are murdered, both Shaffer and the boxer fall under suspicion. With the help of police detective Hunter (Fred Dryer), Shaffer hopes to prove that the real culprit is a big-time promoter. Famed restauranteur Nicky Blair) appears as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The last thing that seductive Lu the nightclub singer expected when the pirates abducted her was to be taken to an ancient Central American temple and worshiped by its people as a moon goddess. Actually she never expected to be abducted by pirates either. All she really expected was to entertain people living in the jungle. This adventure chronicles her exploits as the beloved moon goddess. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this mindless movie aping the 1960 hit about teens out for sun, surf, and sex, the "boys" are at the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida -- the destination of thousands of U.S. university students on their spring break and the destination of the four female protagonists here. After arriving, Jennie (Lisa Hartman) has to decide whether she really cares for Camden (Daniel McDonald), a nerdy musician, or the jock Scott (Russel Todd); Carole (Lorna Luft) has been unexpectedly followed to Lauderdale by a boyfriend; Sandra (Wendy Schaal) falls in love with a cop when she is arrested; and Laurie (Lynn-Holly Johnson) is simply out for a good time with anyone, or everyone. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV thriller, a luckless, cynical San Diego gumshoe is hired to look into the mysterious disappearance of a crime lord's wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

B.A.D. Cats was a 1980 TV adventure series, all about a special division of the LA police department. Comprised of ex-racing drivers, the B.A.D. C.A.T. squad (Burglary Auto Detail, Commercial Auto Thefts) went after the bad guys with a vengeance-and with all cylinders running. Premiering January 4, 1980, the series was cancelled after five episodes, at which point its producers issued what amounted to a public apology. The only logical reason that two episodes of B.A.D. Cats have been released on video is that one of its stars was Michelle Pfeiffer, playing curvaceous lady-cop Samantha "Sam" Jensen. Usually clad in skimpy halter tops and cutoffs, her main purpose was to impersonate hookers and biker chicks, and get kidnapped. Funny how the B.A.D. Cats video showed up on rental shelves shortly after Michelle Pfeiffer's star-making turn in 1988's Married to the Mob; we wonder if she puts the 1980 series on her current resume. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First telecast May 16, 1977, Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn is the gender-switch follow-up to the 1976 TV movie Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway. While Dawn concentrated on the sordid descent of a young girl into crime and prostitution, Alexander devotes its time to the exploits of a teenaged boy (Leigh J. McCloskey), whose character was introduced in the earlier film. A former Oklahoma farm boy, Alexander takes to the streets of LA, where he becomes a hustler and gigolo. After falling in love with Dawn (Eve Plumb), Alexander strives to escape his dead-end world and begin life anew. Director John Erman uses moody overtones to capture the darkness and despair of Alexander's life. Erman, an accomplished director of television movies, also directed the highly-acclaimed, touching AIDS drama, An Early Frost. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Larry Peerce directed this tired disaster movie about a mad sniper loose in a football stadium. At the beginning, the sniper picks off a cyclist for practice and then takes roost in the top tower of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Sent in to stop the terror is Captain Peter Holly (Charlton Heston), who wants to get his hands on the sniper without endangering the lives of the people in the stadium. Unfortunately, there is a second group of law enforcement officers, a tactical commando group, who want to go into the stadium and rush the sniper -- regardless of the danger such an action would cause to the crowd watching the game. The sniper plans to start blasting at the two-minute warning signal of the football game. Holly has to find the sniper before the two-minute warning is given -- not merely to prevent the killings threatened by the sniper but to head off the tactical force before any other unnecessary deaths are incurred by the force's bulldog techniques. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Exploitation auteur Jack Hill wrote and directed this wild, often satiric girl-gang movie, whose story is loosely (make that very, very loosely) based on Othello. The Silver Daggers are a gang of young hoods who control an inner-city high school, where they sell drugs and sex to the student body and fight anyone who gets in their way. The Daggers have a ladies' auxiliary, The Dagger Debs, who rumble just as hard as the men, but one day chief Dagger Deb Lace (Robbie Lee) meets her match in Maggie (Joanne Nail), a new kid who won't back down. When a scuffle lands Maggie and the Debs in jail for the night, Maggie comes to Lace's rescue, and Maggie becomes Lace's new right-hand woman. However, fellow Deb Patch (Monica Gayle) is jealous of Maggie's friendship with Lace, and begins spinning a web of deceit to destroy Lace's trust in the new deb. In the midst of the infighting, the Silver Daggers find their turf challenged by a rival gang who pose as a community action team, and the Debs join forces with a revolutionary political group. Kitty Bruce, Lenny Bruce's daughter, plays Doughnut, one of the Debs, and Marlene Clark plays a Mao-spouting revolutionary leader. This exploitation cult item gained a new life in 1996, when Quentin Tarantino, a big fan of director Hill, sponsored a theatrical re-release through his company Rolling Thunder Pictures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Bloodsport began life under the less alluring title Poetry in Motion. Gary Busey and Ben Johnson star as, respectively, a high-school football quarterback and his "winning is the only thing" father. The more his dad pushes him, the less Busey truly wants to be an athlete. The inter-family hostility comes to a head during an excitingly filmed climactic gridiron battle. Made for TV, Bloodsport was initially telecast on December 5, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide